Volleyball: #10 Ohio Northern (26-5 Overall) v Aurora (Ill.) (23-10 Overall) - NCAA Tournament 1st Round
Thursday, November 14, 2019, 5:30 pm - Van Noord Arena, Grand Rapids, Mich.
| Match Notes (.pdf) | NCAA Championships site |
Thursday's Preview: The No. 10-ranked Ohio Northern volleyball team is making its 32nd appearance in the 40 years of the NCAA Division III Tournament's existence ... This is the Polar Bears' fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament ... The Polar Bears have amassed a 37-31 record in its previous 31 trips, including a trip to the NCAA Semifinals in 2008 and a Runner-Up finish in 1989 ... Northern enters the NCAA Tournament on a 4-match winning streak and winners of 10 of its last 11 matches ... The Polar Bears received an automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament with a 26-5 overall record. Ohio Northern shared the OAC Regular Season title with an 8-1 record and won the OAC Tournament by defeating John Carroll, Baldwin Wallace and Otterbein ... In the victory over Otterbein in the OAC Tournament finals, senior Sydney Bapst had 14 kills, senior McKenna Jordan posted 14 kills and 10 digs and senior All-American Chelsea Huppert recorded 11 kills, seven blocks, and six digs ... Huppert is third in the OAC with a 1.03 bps average and is second with a .338 hitting percentage ... She also leads the team with 331 kills ... Huppert is 3rd all-time in ONU history with a career .338 hitting pct. and 124 career block solos, is 4th with 396 total blocks and is 6th with 1,356 kills ... Freshman Madison Kern leads the OAC with 1.05 bps and is second with 116 blocks ... Jordan is second on the team with 255 kills this season ... She is tied for 10th all-time in ONU history with 1,176 kills ... Senior McKenna Hostetler leads the team and the OAC with 670 digs ... She ranks 4th all-time at ONU with career 2,085 digs ... Ohio Northern is 114-14 against unranked opponents in the past 5 seasons, a winning percentage of .891 ... ONU leads the OAC with 261 blocks, a 2.19 bps average and 2,296 digs this year ... Aurora is making its third NCAA Tournament appearance, all of which have occurred in the past three seasons ... AU received an automatic bid by winning the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament Championship with victories over Dominican (Ill.) and Concordia (Wis.) ... The Spartans are led by freshman Sydnei Avery, who is 19th nationally with with 439 kills, junior Imani Freeman with 288 kills and senior Karli Chambers with 255 kills ... Junior Miranda Cada has 1,180 assists and junior Lindsey Simpson has 112 blocks.
ONU Statistical Leaders:
Kills | Blocks | Aces | Digs | Assists | ||||||||||||||
1. | Huppert | 331 | 1. | Kern | 116 | 1. | Hostetler | 30 | 1. | Hostetler | 670 | 1. | Wade | 855 | ||||
2. | Jordan | 255 | 2. | Huppert | 110 | 2. | Irmer | 29 | 2. | Irmer | 354 | 2. | Carle | 371 | ||||
3. | Bapst | 212 | 3. | Ellis | 51 | 3. | Hall | 27 | 3. | Hall | 266 | 3. | Hostetler | 59 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern holds a 3-0 lead in the series between the two schools. Northern won 3-2 in 2017 at the Illinois Wesleyan Invitational and won a pair of 2-0 decisions in 1990.
Head Coach Kate Witte: Witte is currently in her 29th season as the head women's volleyball coach at Ohio Northern … She owns a coaching record of 741-240, a winning percentage of .755 ... She is the school's all-time wins leader. ... She is the school's all-time wins leader and has announced her retirement at the end of the 2019 season.